Neutrinos and Gamma Rays from Beta Decays in an Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 1068 Jet
We show that TeV neutrinos and high-energy gamma rays detected from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068 can simultaneously be explained in a model based on the beta decays of neutrons produced in the photodisintegration of ^{4}He nuclei on ultraviolet photons in the jet. The photodisintegration of nuclei occurs at energies above several PeV, which explains the 1-100 TeV energies of the observed neutrinos. The TeV gamma-ray flux accompanying the beta decays is expected to be much lower than the neutrino flux, which agrees with the observations of NGC 1068 showing a gamma-ray deficit as compared to the expectations from proton-photon interactions. Furthermore, the synchrotron and inverse Compton gamma-ray flux associated with protons' Bethe-Heitler pair production and the photopion processes in the jet can be consistent with the observed gamma-ray flux at GeV energies for a plausible range of magnetic fields of jets. This scenario, combining beta decay and Bethe-Heitler, can be applied to other jet Seyfert galaxies such as NGC 4151. Future measurements of the neutrino flavor ratio can help confirm the beta-decay origin of the observed neutrinos.
Authors
- Alexander Kusenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8619-1260)
- Koichiro Yasuda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1581-3252)
- Yoshiyuki Inoue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-1136)
- Nobuyuki Sakai
Institutions
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP)
- The University of Osaka (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.151005
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.35
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science